Monday, September 30

Most of us began our morning with the freshest squeezed orange juice possible. Our hotel in Thessaloniki had this wonderful machine that held a basket of oranges on the top. When you pressed a button, four oranges (in sequence) were dropped down onto a cutter, the two halves slid down onto juice wheels, and the juice flowed right down into your waiting glass. 

Officially, however, our day began with a tour of the orthodox cathedral church of Saint Demetrius. Dating back to the 4th century, the church was built in the basilica style. Damaged and/or destroyed several times over the centuries, the architecture preserved elements of these successive stages of its development. Its icons included mosaics (the earliest form), frescoes (painted on wet plaster with the pigments absorbed into the plaster), and icons painted in the manner traditional since the middle ages. We departed Thessaloniki for the day by way of the Anopoli ("upper city") -- a fine demonstration of Costas' (our bus driver) ability.

We made our way east along the coast to the port of Kavalla (ancient Neapolis). Christiana had arranged a delicious fresh fish lunch for us in a seaside cafe. It was here that we got our first glimpse of the ancient Roman road, Via Egnatia, that's path we had generally been following all the way from Thessaloniki. We had an opportunity to walk on its ancient pavements when arrived in Philippi in the afternoon.

The Acrophilippi (the Philippian acropolis) came into view almost as soon as we crested the hill west and north of Kavala. The first archaeological remains to come into view were the Greek theater that had been transformed into an arena by the Romans. We stopped at the site of the Agora ("marketplace") and saw the Bema ("judgment seat") and the site of the Roman-era prison. We continued down the road a few hundred meters to Lydia's Baptistry. This site is the traditional location for the stream where Lydia, the first European convert of Paul's to be named in Acts, was baptized. While there, Rev. Tim conducted the service for Reaffirmation of the Baptismal Covenant Marking Occasions of Growth in Faith. The service begins with a quotation of Philippians 2:13, and was a fitting part of our study of Paul's life and ministry during our visit to Philippi.

Tomorrow we will leave northern Greece behind in our journey geographically and Paul behind (for a day or two) in our chronological journey. We will be visiting Kalambaka to see the monasteries of Meteora.

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